American Express Takes on Capital One

It appears American Express is going after Capital One. This isn't happening in the court system but in the court of public opinion. American Express, which largely has a history of producing high brow or clever, but savvy, ad campaigns is taking more of a "head on" approach as it compares itself to the competition.

The competition in the new campaign is not mentioned by name, but it appears obvious. Recently, Capital One has been boasting about how easy it is to customize the image you want on your platinum credit card. Kittens, mom, the kids, all of these are regular choices of happy card users, according to the ads. You simply upload your images and the next thing you know you are showing off the thing, or person, or whatever you are proud of in each transaction.

American Express is arguing that such cards are not what you want to display when making business purchases. There is the poor guy who has his credit card littered with kittens and he says he is going on a business trip. As a result of the card, he faces interrogation and even cavity expections! Meanwhile, the person who walks up with his American Express Platinum Card gets on board of his flight without incidence. Then there is the poor fool who uses a super hero imaged credit card at a business meal. He thought his guests were impressed by his presentation. That positive impression was wiped a way by a silly credit card.

I'm not use to seeing American Express taking a confrontational stand, it will be interesting to see how good it is for business.

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Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Time Magazine's Best Lists: Commercials

In my recent "list of lists" on Time Magazine's "Best" series, I have been pretty critical. I have to admit though, I did like some of their choices for commercials in 2007.

On the upside for commercials, I love their choice of the David Letterman and Oprah Winfree "love fest" while watching TV together. The two have had a much publicized chilling relationship for years and to get them together made for an eye catching and humorous ad.

The "Impossible is Nothing" ad for Adidas made you laugh (when you saw the cute, little soccer player), made you cry (when you understood the challenges the subject had gone through), and made you proud (when you read how that person over came such). Great stuff!
One ad campaign that I love, but didn't get much air time, was Gatorade's "Thief" campaign. It is funny, smart, and memorable. A must see.

American Express' "Tina Fey" examines the numerous challenge facing a business woman, any of which could be devastating and how refreshing it was that someone rescued her from one without her having to break a sweat.

On the down side, they didn't include any of the great Geico conspiracy ads (like the one on the Flintstones) or any of the Cavemen ads that birthed a TV show (which died quickly, but still, leading to a TV show is impressive!). This is because Time Magazine tries to be some what "high brow" in the way it approaches things, I must conclude.

But overall, I was pleased with Time's choices in this category. I will be reviewing magazine covers in a future post.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Receive that free ezine by clicking here.

The Plum Card from American Express

I hadn't heard about it until today, but the image of the new Plum Card from American Express immediately caught my attention. Once I saw the image and clicked for more information, I was even more impressed.

According to American Express, the new card has the following unique features:

"Pay early, get up to a 2% discountPay your balance in full within 10 days of your statement closing date and get a 2% discount when your month's total spending is above $5,000 and 1% when it's $5,000 or below. The discount is applied to all new eligible charges in that month, and will appear as a credit on your following month's statement.Example: Charge $10,000 monthly and regularly pay your bills in full within 10 days, and your monthly savings will be $200 (Your yearly savings will be $2,400).

Pay 10%, defer payment up to 2 months, interest–freeTake up to two months from the closing date on your monthly statement to pay your new balance in full – all without interest or finance charges. Just make an initial payment of at least 10% by the Please Pay By date on your billing statement and you can extend payment on the rest until the next month's Please Pay By date.Example: If the new balance on your statement is $5,000, you can pay $500 by the Please Pay By Date and the rest by the Please Pay By Date on your next month's billing statement.

Set Your Own Billing CycleSelect when your monthly billing cycle closes — at the beginning, middle, or end of the month."

You can get more information about the card here (I'm not selling it, it simply looks like a potentially helpful program).

I'm always excited to see the major companies competing for the opportunity to finance small business activities. Such is good for the economy and business in general.

Virtually everything I have seen so far has been "marketing" in its approach, so I cannot yet vouch for the card. But I will keep my eyes open and report back my findings in the future. Meanwhile, I would love the comments of others on the viability of the program when it comes to their business.

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